Sri Lanka fought hard enough in Thursday’s decisive match against India at the National Stadium in Karachi to suggest that they weren’t too keen on playing Mahendra Singh Dhoni's team in the final. But that is how it is going to be. Sri Lanka did almost everything right — they won the toss, took first strike, and put up a big total on the board but at the end of the day, a 308-run mountain proved to be too small a challenge for an Indian line-up that carries bludgeons on to the field these days.

Agreed, the track was flat as the flattest of pancakes — spectators milling around the ground suggested even 350 wasn’t safe — but the authority with which India chased the total, getting there with 3.1 overs and six wickets to spare, will give Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene something to think about ahead of the final. With the exception of Muttiah Muralitharan, every bowler in the Lankan attack paid — a few of them for poor bowling, but most of them to the sheer confidence that the Indian batsmen displayed.

One isn’t sure of how many in Karachi spent their Thursday evening glued to the television sets, but when Yuvraj Singh scored the winning runs, a cloud of despair had spread over the port city. For, with this win, India had knocked Pakistan out of contention in the tournament. Pakistan’s match against Bangladesh, scheduled for Friday, has now been rendered inconsequential.

Do or die, almost

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